Page 15

CHAPTER 14

TANNER

I tore out of the neighborhood while I stabbed the number for the police station into my phone.

“Destiny Sheriff's Department,” a young woman’s voice said cheerfully.

“Hi, Marcy, it’s Tanner. Is Sheriff Johnson in?”

“Hi Tanner!” She responded brightly. How did a person raised by Sherrif Johnson, arguably the grumpiest person in Destiny, possibly all Maryland, turn out so cheery all the time, I had no fucking clue. But she had always been like that, even when we were kids. “Yes, he’s right here at his desk. Would you like to speak to him?’

Mahk eyed me curiously, but I just shook my head slightly. I’d explain later.

“Hello?” The man grunted once he was on the line.

“Sheriff Johnson, this is Tanner from the convenience store.” Technically, the place had a name, but no one ever used it, and somewhere along the lines, even the sign disappeared.

“Pagely,” he deadpanned my last name, “Why can I do it for you?” Annoyance dripped from his tone.

“Well your job for starters would be nice. Mike, the part-timer called you and you ignored him.”

Sheriff Johnson sighed heavily. “Tanner, c’mon now. I can’t be showin’ up to the store every time a customer gives y’all a hard time.”

I squeezed the steering wheel, tempted to swing over to the station and have this conversation in person. But, I had a family to feed and I couldn’t do that if I caught charges for assaulting a police officer.

“No…but when they start destroying the store, refuse to leave, and are threatening the employees? Oh, and probably under the influence? I think that might warrant a visit, don’t you?”

“You don’t think you’re exaggerating a little?”

By then, we pulled up. “I just got here. I’d be happy to send you a video if you’d like.”

The sheriff grumbled a few more things under his breath, but finally relented. “Fine, I’ll send a car out.” Which meant either him or Marcy. The police presence in this place wasn’t exactly booming. The forest had its own set of rangers, but they didn’t deal with anything outside of it.

“Thank you,” I replied with as much sarcasm as I could muster. I hung up to go inside. I had no intention of waiting for that asshole and leaving Mike alone inside.

I hadn’t bothered parking in a spot and had pulled directly up to the front door. I hopped out, Mahk immediately at my back. I didn’t need to be inside to already know this was a fucking mess. I could hear the screaming and the thunderous bangs of shelves hitting the floor.

What the fuck had happened? I’d had to deal with asshole tourists before, but this was extreme. Mahk’s eyes flashed and his fingers opened and closed at his sides. He was fighting the urge to grab his blades, and I almost told him to go ahead and do it. What were these fuckers doing?

Straightening my shoulders, I pushed the door open, ready for fucking war. “What the fuck is happening in here?” I barked as soon as the glass door closed behind Mahk.

The woman, who was literally standing in the middle of the store and screeching in an octave so high, she rivaled Mariah Carey, stopped suddenly after the words left my mouth. Her chest was heaving like she was exhausted, which I guessed made sense. Screaming like that sounded like hard work.

A man who had been pounding on the door to the back room paused and his head snapped to me. He stalked forward, and I immediately confirmed Mike’s suspicions. They were high as shit. Two other guys were tearing up the store and another woman who seemed the calmest. She was sitting on the counter, sucking on a lollipop, and watching her jackass friends.

“You. Are you the manager here?” He got right in my face and jammed a finger into my chest. Mahk rumbled behind me, and I blindly reached for his hand before he orced out and killed every one of these fuckers.

I pushed his hand away and stared him down. “Do not touch me.”

He scoffed. “I should do way more than that. What kind of establishment are you running?”

Was this asshole for real? It was a gas station for fuck’s sake. I didn’t get to respond before Mahk was in front of me, growling at the asshole, one of his—thankfully less ornate—blades in his hand. It always fascinated me how they were hidden until he needed them. I called it his Mary Poppins magic.

At first, the guy smirked as he gave Mahk a scathing once-over. I got it. In this form, he was smaller than the asshole customer in this form, and in his highlighter colored, mismatched clothes, it wasn’t incredibly intimidating. .

“You need your little boyfriend to protect you?” The fucker sneered at me.

“No, he doesn’t,” Mahk snapped, his voice deeper than usual. It went right to my cock. “But you touched and threatened what’s mine, and I cannot allow that to stand.”

Fuck, what was it about his formal, medieval ass phrasing that got to me so much? And yeah, the protector thing was kind of hot. I wasn’t afraid of these assholes, and I definitely could handle my own, but everyone wanted to be defended sometimes, right?

I squeezed Mahk’s shoulder in warning. As sexy as it would be to get a firsthand demonstration of his knife skills, I was well aware of the audience we had. All the fucker’s friends had stopped trying to destroy the place and now formed a semicircle behind him—except the girl with the lollipop. She was still chilling on the counter. Not to mention Mike, who I guessed was still locked in the back room.

Mahk’s shoulders shook, but the knife stayed at his side, his grip loose and relaxed. Was that a good thing? I had a vision of him throwing it across the room and lodging in one of these sorry asshole’s throats. What did it say about me that the thought didn’t bother me much?

The guy was high and apparently had no sense of self-preservation. It didn’t matter what Mahk looked like on the outside—he was radiating danger . If I weren’t in love with the man, I’d be running the other way.

“Fucking freak,” the guy muttered, and then he made what could very well be a fatal mistake. He took a swing at Mahk.

Not fatal because of Mahk’s fancy knives, but because every fiber in my body burned with uninhibited rage when I saw his arm swing back to aim directly at Mahk’s beautiful face.

It was like everything slowed down. I could make out every detail, every motion, and my body was moving before my mind could catch up. I was in front of Mahk and catching the asshole’s fist in my hand before it could land. There was so little strength behind it that I wanted to laugh. Mahk probably wouldn’t have even blinked at the weak-ass punch. But that didn’t matter. Mahk was pissed that he’d poked me? Well, that didn’t compare to the rage I’d felt seeing that fist flying toward my man . . . my mate. Mahk was mine . Nobody touched him.

The guy’s eyes widened as soon as he realized I’d blocked him. He tried to stagger back, but I held on, squeezed his fist.

“Fuck,” he gritted out. “Let go.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.” I squeezed and twisted. The asshole screamed at the crunch in his arm and then he fell to his knees.

“Ahhh. Jesus fuck. You fucking freak!” His friends were all yelling and cursing me out, but none of them made a move. At least they still had some sense.

“Get the fuck outta here and I won’t press charges for damage of property and threatening my employee.” Not that I was really Mike’s boss, but it worked for the threat.

“You broke my arm!” the asshole shrieked, almost as loud as his friend had been earlier.

Mahk squatted down so he was directly in front of the guy. I stiffened, prepared to drag him back if he tried to kill or “lightly maim” the fucker. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but while I was sure the sheriff would look the other way for a broken arm while defending myself, especially after I’d be happy to remind him that he ignored an emergency call, he couldn’t ignore a dude being skinned alive or whatever Mahk had in mind.

But he didn’t touch him. Mahk casually flipped his blade from hand to hand with clear skill. Even from here, I could see the sharp glint. He grinned at the guy. “Did you know that my blades are so sharp that they can easily cut the skin off an animal with one stroke?” Mahk demonstrated, whipping the blade in a clean and hot as fuck swipe. “And animal pelts are much thicker than human skin. I wonder what damage this could do to you?”

Mahk’s tone was conversational, like he was discussing the weather. It made him even more menacing, and I could tell he was terrifying the dude. His eyes were wide and his whole body shook as he clutched his broken arm.

“Y-ya’ll are fucking crazy.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and stood behind Mahk, using my bulk to be more threatening, as Mahk just grinned at him, his eyes shining.

The guy scrambled back on his ass until his friend helped him up. “C’mon, man. Let’s go,” the guy who had been destroying the coolers whispered. “It’s not worth it.”

The rest of them seemed to agree, and then they were running out, glaring at Mahk and me. I waved my fingers at them. “Bye! Thanks for stopping by.”

The girl on the counter laughed. “Well, that was entertaining. I’ll see y’all later.” She followed her friends out, completely unbothered.

They were all loaded up in the Jeep and about to tear outta here, when the lights from the patrol car finally showed up. They tried to leave before anyone could grab them, but I had to give Sheriff Johnson some credit; he blocked the exit with the car, leaving them stuck. Once I was satisfied that he was actually arresting the guys, I turned to Mahk.

I turned to my man. His gaze was heated, and the bulge in his pants proved he was as turned on as I was. I was on him in a fucking second, one hand squeezing the nape of his neck, the other cupping his cheek. I couldn’t get my mouth on him fast enough, and soon we were locked in a bruising kiss. I forgot about everything else. The only thing I could focus on was Mahk, how his more slender body pushed against mine, his hand curled lightly in my hair while the other one found my ass. I backed him up, our mouths still locked together, until he was leaning against the counter. My hand slid into the waistband of his pants?—

“Uh, hey, guys, I’m still here.” I snapped my head up, ready to murder whoever was interrupting me, until I saw Mike hovering uncomfortably by the back room. The kid had just turned 18 and was working to help out his momma and save for college. I could fucking relate. He didn’t deserve any of this. I reluctantly pulled away from Mahk.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, Mike. Are you okay?” He shifted again and nodded jerkily. I couldn’t tell if he was still freaked out over the altercation or if it was what he’d witnessed. Then I noticed him trying to discreetly adjust himself. Oh, ok. That made sense.

“I-I’m fine. Thanks for coming. I didn’t know what to do.”

“‘Course. You shouldn’t have to deal with that shit. Believe me, I’m gonna have words with both the owner and the sheriff. They should’ve had your back.” Mike shrugged. Downfalls of a small town. Everyone knew everyone, and if you weren’t cozy with the town royalty, they acted like you didn’t exist. Mike was not town royalty. Neither was I.

“At least he showed up now.” True.

I finally had myself under control enough to look at the damage. Fucking hell, they’d destroyed the place. “You got your phone with you?” I asked Mike.

“Yeah.”

“Good. I want you to take pictures of everything, then send them in a group message to me and the owner. I wish I thought to take video of those assholes.”

“I did,” Mike said quietly. “I had to stop eventually because that one guy caught me and I had to lock the door to the back room, but it should be something.”

I squeezed his shoulder. “It definitely is. Don’t clean any of this shit. Leave it for the owner. It’s his fucking problem now.”

Mike’s eyes widened. He probably thought I’d lost it, but I didn’t give a fuck. Those assholes had left him here in a dangerous situation. It could’ve been way worse than property damage. The owner was gonna bitch, but that wasn’t my concern.

“Take the pictures, Mike. Then we’re all getting the hell outta here. The store’s closed today.” It didn’t matter to me if I didn’t have the right to make that decision. The owner had lost the little bit of respect I’d had for him when he’d left us to deal with this.

It didn’t take long to get all the pictures, then Mahk and I were leading Mike out and locking the door. Marcy had stopped in at some point, took pictures of her own, and told us that she’d get our statements later once everything settled down. I always like Marcy and was pleased she wasn’t making us linger around.

I drove Mike home, he was way too shaken up to walk, and then it was finally Mahk and me alone.

Immediately, my dick remembered where we’d left off earlier as I turned to Mahk in the passenger seat.

I cupped his cheek, bringing our foreheads together. My stomach was pressed against the clutch, but I didn’t care. It was all Mahk in my brain, all the time.

“I’m ready.”

His eyes widened. “Ready for what?” I didn’t miss the hitch in his voice.

“I—” Fuck, why were words so hard? “I love you, Mahk. I think I have for a while now. Everything seems less heavy when you’re by my side. I want nothing more than to be yours for the foreseeable future and, shit, even longer than that. I won’t lie and say I’m still not scared. So many things could go wrong, and doubts might win out some days, but seeing you with that asshole at the store, it solidified things for me. You’re my mate, and I was a fool to keep ignoring that.”

Mahk shivered. He found my hand and brought it to his lips. “Please speak plainly, lulekai . I need to hear it.”

I sucked in a shuddery breath, getting the courage to speak the words Mahk deserved to hear. “I’m your mate, little stalker. Bite me, claim me, make it official.”